WEBOMETRICS RANKING:
How COVENANT UNIVERSITY Became Number One
The emergence of Covenant University as number one University in Nigeria and West Africa according to the latest Web metrics ranking is no more news. That the Ivory Tower is also number 15 in Africa may not be new to many people. Also, according to the Chancellor, Dr. David Oyedepo on Sunday 1st March 2015, the first university of the commission recently added another feather in its glorious hat.
CU now has the largest concentration of researchers in the field of science!
But what perhaps may not be known to many is how the 13-year-old private university achieved this quantum leap within a relatively short period.
The Webometrics Ranking of World Universities, also known as Ranking Web of World Universities, is a chart for the world’s universities based on a composite indicator that takes into account both the volume of the Web contents, visibility and impact of these web publications according to the number of external in-links (site citations) they received. According to Wikipedia.org, the ranking is published by the Cybermetrics Lab, a research group of the Spanish National Research Council in Madrid.
Webometrics.info further explains it: “Web presence and visibility are used as indicators of global performance of a university. These indicators take into account the teaching commitment, research results, perceived international prestige, links with the community, including industrial and economic sectors of the university.”
PROPHETIC ROOT
At the inception of the university over a decade ago, the Chancellor of the University, Dr. David Oyedepo declared prophetically, “This University in the next few years…will become a major centre of excellence in the world and a pride to the nation and an institution that the entire world will be proud to be associated with.”
More specifically, when the University turned 10 in year 2012, the Chancellor once again declared that CU would be listed among the 10 world leading universities by the year 2022. This was aptly christened “Vision 10: 2022, (1 of 10 in 10).”
As of the time of the declaration, Covenant University was ranked 10th in Nigeria and about 100 in Africa. But the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Charles Korede Ayo and his team took the bull by the horns and began to run with the Vision.
RELEVANT STEPS
During a Media Chat recently, Professor Ayo noted, “We accepted this mandate (1 of 10 in 10) with the understanding that ‘Faithful is He who calleth who also will do it’. Again, we have learnt from our Chancellor that any faith that relies absolutely on God to deliver a prophecy is an irresponsible faith. This means that we have a role to play.”
Professor Ayo and his team embarked on an 8-point agenda targeted towards the fulfilment of the Vision. The Vice-Chancellor enumerated the 8-point agenda and how the University is driving them in order to realise the set goal. “One is to create a unique Covenant University culture. That is, a culture of responsibility, spirituality and most importantly, a culture of discipline. Such that anywhere you see our products, you will not doubt that they had been to CU. Number two is in the area of research and number three is citation. That is, to increase the number of our research citations. Number four is in the area of teaching. I make bold to mention that we have invested massively in teaching facilities. Currently in the University, we have about five Teleconferencing Centres. Most times when I have to attend any International Conference and by the exigencies of my office I am unable to attend, I just stay right here to deliver my paper. That has earned us international mileage in the Vision we are pursuing”, he explained.
GLOBAL RELEVANCE
Professor Ayo disclosed that an international conference would take place inHarvard and by reason of what Covenant University had demonstrated as regards Information Technology (IT), he had been invited as a guest speaker and also with a view to forging collaborations with Covenant University in order to help the entire Africa in the area of application of IT to issues of health.
Fifth on the agenda, according to the Vice-Chancellor is the International outlook. “That is, talking about the presence of international students and faculty on campus. On a yearly basis, we set goals, and the goals we are driving this year are innovation, impact and internationalisation.”
Yet on the agenda is Industry income. The Vice-Chancellor explained that the University had developed some products among which are the three vehicles called CU-IDEA, showcased during the 60th Birthday of the Chancellor in 2014.
The next is Alumni. Professor Ayo said, “We maintained a close tie with our products. If we see any of them who are into what is of interest to us, we engage them and give them preference over others from the general public,” he noted.
“Finally, we look at Awards. We instituted a number of strategic moves in this case. We have a number of Research Clusters and worked together as a team to tackle a particular problem. The University gives full sponsorship to any faculty to attend international conferences anywhere in the world provided he has at least two papers to present.”
DOING THINGS DIFFERENTLY TO CONQUER THE WORLD
So in the words of our Chancellor, the definition of insanity is ‘doing the same thing the same way and expecting different result.’ “CU came on board with a clear focus and commitment different from what others are doing. Today, the story is different. It is simply the act of God. We have conquered Nigeria and West Africa. Very soon Africa shall be taken and the rest shall be a done deal,” he assured.
By AYO AJAYI